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Compromised child renderer processes could obtain IPC access without nodeIntegrationInSubFrames being enabled

Low severity GitHub Reviewed Published Jun 13, 2022 in electron/electron • Updated Jan 27, 2023

Package

npm electron (npm)

Affected versions

< 15.5.5
>= 16.0.0, < 16.2.6
>= 17.0.0, < 17.2.0
>= 18.0.0-beta.1, <= 18.0.0-beta.5

Patched versions

15.5.5
16.2.6
17.2.0
18.0.0-beta.6

Description

Impact

This vulnerability allows a renderer with JS execution to obtain access to a new renderer process with nodeIntegrationInSubFrames enabled which in turn allows effective access to ipcRenderer.

Please note the misleadingly named nodeIntegrationInSubFrames option does not implicitly grant Node.js access rather it depends on the existing sandbox setting. If your application is sandboxed then nodeIntegrationInSubFrames just gives access to the sandboxed renderer APIs (which includes ipcRenderer).

If your application then additionally exposes IPC messages without IPC senderFrame validation that perform privileged actions or return confidential data this access to ipcRenderer can in turn compromise your application / user even with the sandbox enabled.

Patches

This has been patched and the following Electron versions contain the fix:

  • 18.0.0-beta.6
  • 17.2.0
  • 16.2.6
  • 15.5.5

Workarounds

Ensure that all IPC message handlers appropriately validate senderFrame as per our security tutorial here.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, email us at [email protected].

References

@MarshallOfSound MarshallOfSound published to electron/electron Jun 13, 2022
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Jun 13, 2022
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Jun 16, 2022
Reviewed Jun 16, 2022
Last updated Jan 27, 2023

Severity

Low

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

EPSS score

0.261%
(66th percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2022-29247

GHSA ID

GHSA-mq8j-3h7h-p8g7

Source code

Credits

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